Billy Graham

William Franklin "Billy" Graham Jr. (7 November 1918-) was an American Evangelical Christian evangelist who was known for serving as a spiritual adviser to several American presidents, for his outspoken support for the Civil Rights movement, and for building a relationship between the Bible and secular viewpoints. By 2008, 2,200,000,000 people had tuned into his radio and television broadcasts, and he preached the gospel to more people than any person in the history of Christianity.

Biography
William Franklin Graham Jr. was born on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina on 7 November 1918, the eldest of four children. In 1933, when Prohibition ended, Graham's father forced him and his sister Katharine to drink until they got sick, teaching them to never touch drugs or alcohol for the rest of their lives. At the age of sixteen, Graham converted to the Evangelical Protestant movement, having been inspired by a local evangelist. After briefly attending Bob Jones College, Graham found it too legalistic, and he transferred to the Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College of Florida). He often paddled to a small island in the river to preach to the animals, and he accepted the Bible as the infallible word of God around this time. Graham became pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle while still in college, and he attempted to become a US Army chaplain during World War II, but he contracted the mumps.

Rise to prominence
In September 1947, Billy Graham began the first of his 400 "crusades", travelling to Grand Rapids, Michigan and preaching to 6,000 people. He frequently used the 1835 hymn "Just As I Am" as an altar call, and he employed large choirs at all of his crusades. In 1949, he became a celebrity and a leader for middle-class, moderately conservative Protestants. In 1950, he founded the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, and he hosted the Hour of Decision radio show from 1950 to 1954. In 1952, Graham took part in a crusade to Jackson, Mississippi, where he saw ropes separating the white and African-American audiences. Graham went to the head usher and told him to remove the ropes, but the usher refused to. Graham walked past the ushers and took the ropes down himself, and the head usher resigned soon after. Graham opened up his friendship to the black community of America, practicing what he preached.

Civil Rights movement
In 1953, Graham first announced his support for integration and the Civil Rights movement, taking a stand against segregation. In 1957, Graham invited Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak with him at a revival in New York City, and the two became friends, with Graham knowing Dr. King as "Mike" and calling him his "brother". Graham preached that anyone who used the cross as a symbol of hate was a sinner, and prayed that they be shown mercy by God. Graham advised the SCLC during its civil rights campaign, and he paid for MLK's release from prison during the Birmingham campaign in 1963. In 1968, he said that MLK's assassination was one of the most shocking moments of his life.

Politics
Graham worked closely with every president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Richard Nixon, and he was a registered Democratic Party voter. Graham was phoned by President Eisenhower during the Little Rock Nine crisis of 1957, and Eisenhower informed Graham about his plans to send troops to enforce the admittance of the nine students to the school. Graham decided to lead a crusade to Little Rock at the time, and Bill Clinton was one of the young people who attended. Graham was also at the White House when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey told Graham that the bill would never really be implemented unless it came from the heart, and he told Graham that it was his job to do that job; to teach everyone how to love through the Gospel of Christ. President Lyndon B. Johnson admired Graham, and the two were very close friends; Johnson frequently invited Graham to the White House, even having him kneel before his bedside to pray with him.

Graham was also great friends with Republican Party politician Richard Nixon, who he had endorsed for president against the Catholic John F. Kennedy in 1960. Nixon wanted Graham to become involved in politics as ambassador to Israel, but Graham refused, planning to remain a preacher instead. Graham was once caught on tape supporting Nixon's anti-Semitism, agreeing that Jews has a "stranglehold" on the media and that there was a "synagogue of Satan"; Graham later apologized for the remarks, saying that he did not remember making them, and that they did not reflect his views. He also supported bombing dikes in North Vietnam, an act which could have killed 1,000,000 North Vietnamese people. In 1973, Graham rebuked Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, but they reconciled after Nixon's resignation. Graham presided over Johnson's funeral in 1973, Pat Nixon's funeral in 1993, and Nixon's funeral in 1994.

Graham was an outspoken supported of anti-communism and supported the Cold War and Vietnam War, but he praised North Korean president Kim Il-sung as a different kind of communist and one of the great fighters for his country's freedom against Japan. He also preached in the Soviet Union in 1982, laying wreaths to honor the dead of World War II. He voiced fear of a nuclear holocaust, and said that people should live with Christ every day to live in peace.

Continued preaching
Billy Graham continued to enjoy widespread popularity during the 1970s and 1980s, and he became one of America's favorite evangelists, drawing massive crowds at public arenas and on television. During his career, he preached to 215,000,000 people in person, and 2,200,000,000 people watched him on television and listened to him over the radio. Graham was known for his moving speeches, his lessons of compassion and forgiveness, his use of present-day parables to help people with undestanding the simplicity of the gospel, and his comedic behavior at times. Graham was repeatedly on Gallup's list of most-admired men and women, appearing on the list 60 times since 1955. Graham retired from crusading in 2005, having visited 185 countries. He retired to his Montreat, North Carolina home, and he had a private prayer with President Barack Obama at his home in 2010.